Origins of Cooperative Action

Introducing our new study exploring the roots of cooperation, sharing, and helping in infancy…

 Cooperating with others is important for children’s learning and development. Cooperation fosters important skills such as memory and problem solving and is fundamental for establishing friendships and social relationships. Yet, little is known about how infants come to learn and understand cooperation.   

 We are very excited to start a new study looking at the development of cooperation and other prosocial behaviours, i.e. helping and sharing, across the first two years of life. We are interested in identifying when and how children become skilled at helping and cooperating with others.

 While our previous studies have usually involved a one-time visit to our center, this study will be taking a longitudinal approach to study this topic and thus, will involve multiple visits to ELLA. 

Interested in finding out more or participating? Here are some additional information:

How old does my child have to be?  Our first visit is when infants are between 9 and 11 months of age.  So, we will be seeking families with infants who will be between 9-11 months of age some time over this year to be involved in this study.

 How many visits will this study involve? Currently, participation will involve 4 visits spread out over the next couple of years.

 How long will each visit last? Each visit should take approximately 1.5 hours.

 What does participation in this study involve? This study will be using a range of activities to look at the development of prosocial behaviours. For example infants will be asked to play fun, game-like activities, watch a series of videos of people completing various actions, or they might even be asked to play with you!!  Your infant will receive a prize, you will be entered in draws for $50 gift vouchers, and of course, we have parking covered.

 When can I come in? We will find a time that is most convenient for you! Our center is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. Sometimes we have weekend appointments available too!

 Interested in participating? If you, or someone you know has an infant that will be between 9-11 months of age over the next year and would like to participate we would love to hear from you! You can contact us on 09 923 4236 or email us at [email protected] to find out more about this study. If your baby is a bit too young at the moment, you can still call us now and sign up and we’ll call you when your baby is the right age for the first visit.